


Children of the Future

by jazzgirlsworld



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: AU, Adorable Cisco Ramon, Alternate Universe - Children, Barry Allen & Iris West Friendship, F/M, Flash Family, Flash Fic, Good Sibling Iris West, Minor Violence, Slow Romance, SnowBarry - Freeform, fostering
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2018-05-10
Packaged: 2018-09-13 00:08:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 18,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9096583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jazzgirlsworld/pseuds/jazzgirlsworld
Summary: Star Labs: The site of a particle accelerator explosion, the Flash's base, a training centre... A home for meta-children?Or in which Joe gets grandkids earlier than he thought. But he ain't complaining.





	1. The First One

Barry was exiting a crime scene when he heard it.

There was a near-silent sniffle coming from an alleyway, one not too far from the crime scene he had just been analysing, and got kicked out of by Singh before his head exploded with rage at the young CSI. He was, initially, going to ignore it, as it could have been anything - but when it came again, Barry's curiosity took over and he went to investigate.

Barry wasn't stupid. He knew homelessness was a problem in America, and had, unfortunately, seen a few homeless people. His heart went out to them, but there was nothing he could do but scrounge some change from his pockets and give it to them, hoping it would ease their poor lives a little. So he prepared himself to be face to face with one such person as he peered down the alleyway.

What he didn't expect was a little girl, crying her eyes out, wrapped in a shawl and covered with what looked to be some type of black powder. After a moment of stunned silence, he called out. "H-hey... Do you... Do you know where your parents are?" he was about to add 'sweetie' onto the end of that, but the word choked itself inside his throat rather than come out of his awkward mouth. 

The small girl turned, looking at him warily, tears having cleaned her cheeks of the powdery substance. "N-no," she said hesitantly. "I - I don't know where they are. They're not coming back."

Barry's heart clenched. He rocked backwards and forwards on his feet, a bit unsure what to do, feeling rage at the parents and sympathy for the girl. "What's your name?" he finally asked.

"I'm Mary," she said quietly, coming a bit closer to Barry. Barry smiled down at her.

"I'm Barry, Mary. You're gonna be OK, don't you worry." He held out his hand to her and she took it, letting him lead her into the light. "I'm a CSI at the police. We can take you there if you - "

"No!" she shrieked. "No police!" Her outburst attracted a few stares from people.

"OK, OK!" Barry said hastily. "No police." He pondered for a moment. "Hey, do you want something to eat?"

***

That's how they ended up at Star Labs.

Barry wasn't really sure where to take her - he couldn't take her home, because Joe would ask questions he really didn't need right now. He couldn't take her to the precinct after her outburst. He couldn't take her to her home, because, she didn't have one. He owned Star Labs anyway, and he was sure the girl needed a few tests to check her health was OK. And besides, the place had a warm bed and some food, which was what she needed right now.

So he hurried in, and put her down on a bed in what used to be the medical bay, and once he was out of the room again, used his speed to grab some hot food and bring it back to her. Mary, all the while, was sitting patiently, too quiet, too still for a girl of 5. Barry didn't ask what had happened, instead handing her the food and watching as she ate it on the bed. He wasn't too concerned about the mess she'd make, instead his focus was on her health.

She'd definitely need a bath... and clean clothes... and something to keep her entertained for a while. Had she started school yet? Not formally... But he'd need something educational as well... Not to mention toys! And what else did a 5 year old need? 

Barry was at a loss as to what to do. Where to begin? She'd eaten, so that was one worry off his mind. Bath first? Or toys? Should he tell Caitlin? After all she practically lived at the labs, what with him getting injured all the time. 

"Mr Barry?" Mary had finished and was looking at him shyly. "Thank you for the food."

Barry smiled warmly at her. "Just Barry will be OK, Mary. So... What do you want to do?" he asked her, deciding it was best for now to let her make the decisions. 

She scrubbed her face. "I feel dirty. Can I have a bath?"

***

It was probably the wettest challenge he had ever faced, bathing a 5 year old, who splashed constantly, and kept getting shampoo in her eyes. Barry had felt awkward at first, but it was all abandoned as he painstakingly dried her off, only making himself wetter in the process. She seemed to have forgotten whatever was troubling her for the moment, so that was a plus. He ran one of Caitlin's brushes through her brown curly locks, sighing in relief when it went straight through perfectly. Grabbing her clothes, he pulled her pink shirt over her head and handed her the underwear and trousers to put on. She wriggled into her shoes as well, standing up proudly once she was finished.

Barry let out another sigh of relief. It was barely even 2 in the afternoon and he was already exhausted. "Right well... You're all clean now, so I suppose we could go out and get you some new clothes or..." he trailed off.

"OK!" she said, nodding her head, her hair bouncing with her. She looked a lot fresher now, it was satisfying to see. 

"Right..." Barry said, picking her up and taking her to one of the vans. He put her carefully in the seat, strapping her in, before getting into the van as well.

About half an hour later, they were in a shop. Barry looked around awkwardly, wincing at the bright colours assaulting his eyes. He was holding onto Mary's hand, unsure what to buy. 

"Hi!" a shop assistant said. "Can I help you in any way?"

"Oh thank god," Barry groaned. "I need to buy clothes for a 5 year old and I've no idea where to start."

The assistant laughed, looking down at Mary. "Aw, father-daughter shopping, cute!" She swept away before he could correct her, and Barry just followed on behind. "Right so first you need your normal clothes," she said, picking out a few shirts, jumpers and trousers and chucking them at Barry, who caught them with both hands, Mary holding onto his trouser leg instead. 

"Then outerwear, night clothes and of course extra for special occasions, and anyone as cute as your little girl must have dresses!" Barry was now navigating by voice instead of sight, having a massive pile of clothing in his arms. "Underwear and thermals and socks and shoes and - "

By the time Barry had loaded all the stuff in the van, which included toys and games and hair accessories (he thought it was really necessary for one girl to have a whole bag-full of hair whatnots, but the assistant had insisted, and who was he to argue?), it was groaning under the weight. The shop assistant waved at them, before gasping and running inside, emerging with a child's seat. "Here, put her in this, and use this belt hug to make sure she doesn't get scratched!"

"Wha....?" Barry said, dumbfounded. The assistant rolled her eyes and put the seat in for him and the belt hug. "Oh right..."

"It's on the house," she smiled, turning back inside. Barry sighed. Today really was a long day.


	2. Huffie and Caitlin

"Barry?"

"Yeah Mary?"

"Where are we going?"

"Back to STAR Labs. You wanna... Do anything or make a stop or something?"

"No. I was just wondering." Mary went back to staring out the window, a couple of fingers scrunched inside her mouth. Barry reached over and pulled them out.

"It's bad for your teeth.." He said, then spotted an officer from the precinct. He began trying to sink as low as possible in his seat. "Don't look here, don't look here..."

But, as we all know, Lady Luck never seemed to want to co-operate with him (at first, anyway). So the officer looked over and waved, frowning slightly at spotting the little girl in her seat. Mary waved back at the officer, and Barry gave her a hasty smile, before putting his foot down and speeding away, possibly breaking a few laws in the process.

***

"Damn..." Barry muttered, helping Mary out of her seat. The small girl clutched onto him as he shut the van door and made his way to the back. He managed to grab one bag without letting go of Mary, who seemed adamant on staying in his arms. "OK, Mary, can I just..."

"Do you have to?" she whined. 

"Yeah, I'm sorry," he replied, putting her on the ground. He grabbed a few light bags, handing them to her when - 

"Hey! Allen!" yelled a voice.

"Oh jeez," mumbled Barry, turning to Officer Huffie who'd seen him on the street. "Hi, Officer Huffie... Do you need me down at the precinct? Because I'm pretty sure I had a half day today."

"No, I just noticed you had a kid," she said, smiling at Mary. "Hi sweetie! What's your name?"

"I'm Mary, and Barry's my new dad!" she said cheerfully. Huffie raised her eyebrows, looking at Barry. Barry, at a loss for what to do, went along with it, brain acting on autopilot.

"Yeah, I'm... I'm fostering her," he mumbled, trailing off, hoping Huffie wouldn't push the subject.

Surprisingly, she began to look at him differently. "I didn't know you were a kid person," she said. She began to twirl a piece of hair in her fingers. 

"Well, I mean, you do now!" Barry said, trying to hurry Mary inside before she said anything else.

"Barry took me shopping and bought me loads of nice stuff," she said, going up to Huffie. "And he said I could play all day if I was good girl. And he bought me hair accessories to make me pretty!"

"Aw," Huffie squealed. "That's so cute! You have to bring Mary to the precinct sometime! And you bought her hair accessories? My boyfriend won't even go to the women's sections..." she muttered resentfully.

"And it's getting cold, Mary," he said loudly. "Let's get inside before you catch your death out here." She shrieked at the thought of catching death and ran inside, bags swinging. 

"Hey, Allen," Huffie said, scribbling something down on a piece of paper and giving it to him. "If you need help, call me."

"Oh, thanks," he said, shifting all the bags onto one arm and taking the paper.

"Or if, you know," she said, fluttering her eyelashes at him, "You ever wanna hang out together at my place."

"Right," Barry squeaked, then ran inside, hoping she hadn't been implying what he thought she had been implying. Mary was a lot more hyper now, opening up the bags and looking at all her new clothes. She was laughing and playing with them, and when she saw the hair accessories, she pounced on them. Barry let her, hurrying down to an old bedroom that had once belonged to a long-gone scientist. He pulled off all the sheets on the furniture and opened up the windows to let light and air in, scrambling to shove all the clothes in the bags onto hangers and put them in the closet. 

"MARY!" he yelled, now setting up all the toys near the bed. There was a light patter of feet and Mary's head poked around the door. He grinned, leading her in, and gesturing widely to the room. "This is your room!" he announced.

"Really?" she asked doubtfully, and Barry had to agree - it still looked drab and unexciting, unlike how a child's bedroom should be. She let go of his hand and ran out again, returning a moment later with white paint. Before Barry could stop her, she had put her hand in the paint and ran to the wall, making a hand print. She giggled happily, removing her hand from the wall. "Come on, Barry!"

"If you can't beat 'em, join 'em I suppose," he muttered, and let himself get lost in hand painting.

***

Caitlin was surprised to find the Cortex empty, knowing that nearly everyday, Barry would have some type of injury or dilemma he needed to sort out. She looked around for anything unusual, going out into the corridor. She froze when she saw a hair band. Stepping forwards, she picked it up, spotting a hair clip not too far away. She picked each hair item up, wondering what on earth Barry was doing, or if he had been kidnapped by some hair-accessory-spewing metahuman... Which would be weird in itself.

When she did reach the end of the trail, she found Barry and a very small person with paint over their faces and all over the walls. There was crayon too, crayon drawings everywhere. Barry looked up at her, panic setting into his face. "Caitlin, I can explain," he said calmly. He took the little girl's hand, turning her around. 

She had brown curly hair and brown eyes, wearing a cute pink shirt and trousers. "This is Mary. I found her outside, alone and I... I didn't know what to do so I brought her here," he admitted helplessly. 

Caitlin smiled at Mary. "Hi Mary. I'm Dr Caitlin Snow, Barry's friend. How do you do?" she said, putting out her hand for a handshake. Mary ran up to her taking her hand.

"I'm fine, thank you," she said politely, then her face brightened. "Would you like to draw with us?" She began dragging Caitlin over to their drawings, and Caitlin decided that maybe explanations could wait.

***

After Barry had explained everything, Caitlin had Mary back in the medical room in the Cortex and sitting on the bed, patient as Caitlin carried out her tests.

"What's it like being a doctor?" asked Mary.

"Well, it's very unpredictable I suppose," she answered. "I see a lot of... interesting things in my line of work." Her eyes flicked to Barry, who gave her a sheepish smile. "And I'm not an average doctor, anyways. I look after special people."

"You mean like, people who can do weird stuff?" asked Mary quietly. Caitlin paused. "People who can do strange things?"

"Yes. People like that," Caitlin said. "I look after people who can do strange things."

"You mean like this?" Mary murmured, eyes downcast. She reached out her hand towards an empty test tube, and gave it a squeeze.

There was a soft rumble, a shake, and the test tube exploded. Caitlin shrieked, but a second later, she and Mary were on the other side of the room, away from the mini-explosion. Barry was holding Mary in his arms, staring at the black powder now surrounding the area that the test tube had been in. 

"How did you do that?" Mary asked, amazed. 

Barry began to vibrate his hand, showing it to her. "I'm special too," he smiled at her. "Don't worry. We'll look after you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, hope you're enjoying the story! Leave kudos please!


	3. The Secret Gets Out

Detective Joe West was, as usual, in the precinct, waiting for something stupid or crazy to happen, when he overheard Officer Huffie's conversation. 

"You should have seen him yesterday," she was saying to a throng of female officers. "He was so cute, carrying all those bags with that little girl running figure 8's around his feet. He bought her a load of stuff and she said he was her dad! They were going inside that STAR Labs to do each other's hair I think."

"My boyfriend won't even go to the women's section with me," one woman said. Officer Huffie exclaimed in agreement. "And it's only after I'm taken Allen decides to turn around and turn out not to be a jerk?!"

"I know," complained Huffie. "I never even realised how cute Barry was. That little girl was so happy - he must be a good dad."

"He probably gets it from Joe, right?" another officer said, having joined the conversation. "I always thought Allen was a little weirdo, always hiding out in his lab, whether it's here or in STAR Labs... but I guess he's not a weirdo now we know what he's doing, huh?"

"Is he building a care home in there, do you think?" said someone else, and there were many 'awww's and 'that is so cute!'s thrown around at this statement. "Well at least it's being used for something good."

"I call shotgun!" shouted another woman. There were many groans around her. 

"Too late, Annie. I already gave him my number," Huffie said proudly. There were even louder groans around her. 

"Well I call shotgun after Huffie! And Huffie, you already got a boyfriend!"

"But I already called it!" and suddenly the precinct was full of yelling. Joe decided, right there and then, not to say a word to Barry about all the female (and male) attention he'd be getting when he got to work. He thought it would be punishment enough for whatever idiocy Barry had got himself into this time. He'd ask Iris about it later, as at that moment, he got called out to a crime scene.

***

Barry hurried into work with crayon and wet stains on his jumper. He hadn't even noticed that he had crayon on him until he was halfway to work, because Mary had been crying and didn't want him to leave her. He had tried explaining that he needed to work, and consoled her with a long hug (she was holding a crayon) and a promise to get more colouring books after work and nice food. He had run out by that time, panicking that he wouldn't make it on time, even with his speed.

He edged along the precinct walls, hoping that Captain Singh wouldn't notice him and he could get to his lab and get the jumper off. "ALLEN!" roared the captain. Barry winced. That wasn't going to happen then.

"Yes Captain Singh? I'm on time today!" he said. 

"I noticed," growled Singh. "What I wanna know is why you sacrificed neatness for being early."

"Oh the jumper... See I, er... The thing is, it's not mine," Barry started. Singh was turning redder and redder in the face.

"Oh Barry!" Huffie yelled, going up to him, spotting the stains on his shirt. "Aw, did Mary do that?"

"Mary?" asked Singh. Huffie nodded, tying her black hair in a bun. "Who's Mary?"

"Barry's daughter, Captain! He's late because he's got a little girl to look after, who clearly didn't want him to go," Huffie said, eyeing his jumper. "She's really attached to you isn't she?" She continued, not noticing Captain Singh's stare. "Huh and it's no wonder you do all that overtime if you're spoiling her like I saw yesterday!"

"You've got a kid?" Captain Singh said, bemused. Barry began stammering again.

"Well, I mean, yeah I do, but - but I'm just fostering her and she needed some stuff so I bought some stuff... Only the essentials," he said.

"I don't think a whole bag of hair clips are 'essentials', Barry," laughed Huffie. "Or all those dresses either."

"Well, I mean, she wanted them, so who was I to say no?" Barry said, gesturing helplessly. He jumped as there were squeals and coos from the audience that had gathered. "Oh, er, hello... Officer Raymond, I have your forensic report upstairs, don't yell at me!" Barry said, turning on his heel and charging up the stairs, only to reappear a moment later with about twenty reports. "I haven't had time to distribute them, sorry, I've been going mad with the murder on 2nd Street..."

"Oh please, call me Annabel," she said, then quickly wrote something on a slip of paper. "If there's anything else, call me!" She took the files.

"You - you mean regarding the case, right?" he asked, but she was already gone. He quickly entered her number onto his phone. "Well if something comes up then - " His phone began to beep. He picked it up, eyes widening in horror. "Captain, it's Mary. I have to go. Caitlin says it's urgent - I need to go!" he said while on the phone. 

To his surprise, Singh nodded. "Fine, but you're working an extra hour tomorrow Allen!" he shouted after Barry, who ran (at normal speed) out of the precinct. 

Seconds later he was at STAR Labs. "Cait! What is it?! Are you hurt? Is Mary hurt!" he yelled charging into the Cortex and changing into his Flash suit with superspeed, then began checking the perimeter and he picked up a pipe he found, running around with it, ready to face any enemies.

"Barry! Calm down," she smiled. "Come and see." She gestured for him to come over to where Mary was hiding behind her. "Mary, go on. Show Barry what else you can do," she encouraged. 

Slowly, Mary came forwards. She put her arms flat by her sides and palms parallel to the ground, and slowly, she began to levitate. She managed to get a few inches in the air before she landed again, smiling a little at the delighted looks on Barry and Caitlin's faces.

"Wow, you can fly?! That's so cool," Barry said, ruffling her hair.

"Not as cool as being the Flash," she said in awe, touching the lightning bolt on his suit (which he was wearing). "Can I be a superhero like you one day?"

"Of course you can," he said, ruffling her hair. "I'll teach you everything I know. We can be superheroes together - an unstoppable force of goodness." Mary giggled happily.

"I've called Cisco, who should be here any moment now. We'll head out to the recreation grounds and test her powers a bit more. But first we need to get her a suit similar to yours to measure how her vitals respond to her powers and see just what is going on inside her," Caitlin told Barry.

"You're going to test on me?" whimpered Mary, hiding behind Barry. Barry was quick to hug her and take her on a quick speed trip around the facility.

"No," Caitlin reassured her when she came back. "We're just going to help you, so we know what's going on with you."

"HEY! Everyone! I heard there was a meta with exploding and flying powers! Maybe we should call them... Aeroblast, or Nitrobreeze, or WIND BOMB! Nah, that sounds like a massive fart..." Cisco said, entering the lab. Mary giggled.

"Haha! He said fart," she whispered, and Barry laughed too, despite it being immature. Cisco did a double take on seeing the girl.

"Woah, dude you know you gotta..." he gestured to her. "Who is she?"

"She's the meta you so aptly named Wind Bomb," Caitlin said smartly. 

"OK Caitlin, for real? We still going on about that? That was ages ago."

"It was literally a second ago."

"Actually that's like 20 years in speedster time," Barry agreed, then backed away from Caitlin when she shot him a (playful) glare. "OK, OK..."

"Who - Who are you?" Mary asked shyly, trembling a little at all the equipment he had. Cisco smiled softly, going up to her and giving her a chocolate bar. 

"Hi, I'm Cisco Ramon, tech guy, bad-guy-namer and inventor of that awesome costume," he said, pointing at the suit. "What's your name?"

"M-Mary," she stuttered out. "I'm Mary."

"Nice to meet you, Mary. Now let's get out the fields, Oxyblast! Nah that sounds stupid too..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think you know what I'm going to say by now.... But if you don't: LEAVE KUDOS PLEASE! Thank you!
> 
> OK so 'Aero' means air, 'Nitro' as in nitrogen in bombs and 'Oxy' as in oxygen, in case you didn't get it.


	4. Apparently Kids are a Lady Magnet

Barry was racing along the ground, keeping up with Mary, who was flying overhead, laughing. He was incredibly worried for her, that she might fall and hurt herself. He could hear Cisco's yell over his comms that "she's gonna be fine!" and "stop cramping her style!" but he couldn't help it. She already had problems with landing as well, nearly crashing into Caitlin when she had come back around the first time.

"Wheeee!" she cried, zooming around, Barry nearly having a heart attack when she did a loop. He jumped and snatched her out of the air, carrying her back, despite protests from her and Cisco. "Barry! I wanna fly!"

"You have to - You have to be careful," he cautioned, putting her down under the rain cover. She pouted cutely, but sat still in her chair. "Caitlin, Cisco, what did you get?"

"Well, I thought Hurricane Blast would be a good name but it sounds evil -"

"I mean on her stats?"

"Oh, right... Well, it appears that when Mary flies she's creating her own gravitational field to carry her... Her cells start moving in circles, creating a - a sort of coriolis effect when she changes direction. It's allowing her to become the epicentre of an outwards pushing force that creates artificial gravity."

"In a normal human this would cause nausea, dizziness, headaches," Caitlin took over on the biological study, "But it appears Mary's developed some way of keeping her brain not confused as to all the changes going on around her. I'll probably need to do a CT scan and take blood samples to see what's going on."

Barry nodded, but Mary looked confused. "What's happening to me?" she asked. 

"Basically," Barry said, "Your body cells are... like a carousel! When you fly, the carousel starts and makes it's own force that keeps you off the ground."

"Oh," she said, face clearing. "That's cool! I'm a carousel! I love carousels!" Caitlin and Cisco laughed at her childish delight, already packing up for the day. The sun had begun to get low in the sky and they were all tired.

"Uh, Barry," Cisco said slowly. "You're not going to leave Mary at STAR Labs overnight are you?"

"Waaaa! Don't leave again!" Mary said fearfully, holding onto Barry's leg tighter than it should have been possible. "I don't wanna be on my own!"

"No! No, of course not," he assured her. "I'll stay with you overnight. Have we got toothpaste and stuff at STAR?"

"I'm not sure - I think we ran out yesterday," Cisco said thoughtfully, then frowned when Barry groaned. "What - Maybe you should stop getting injured!"

"I can't help it!" exclaimed Barry, picking up Mary. It was becoming a habit. "All these bad guys want to kill me!" Caitlin just rolled her eyes, exchanging a knowing look with Mary, who giggled. Cisco and Barry argued all the way back to STAR Labs (although in good fun), while Caitlin and Mary chatted to each other about idle things.

*** 

Barry sneaked into his house to grab some things for an overnight stay at STAR. He was about to put a foot on the stairs when - 

"Going somewhere?" Joe switched the light on and glared at his son. Barry felt 11 again, when he had tried to sneak out to see his dad in prison or run away. 

"I'm staying at STAR Labs tonight," replied Barry, doing his best not to look guilty. 

"Uh huh. Why is that? Seems pretty random to me."

"Oh well uh," Barry thought quickly. "Caitlin wants to monitor me overnight to check how I'm doing."

"Right. So I suppose it has nothing to do with the little girl you apparently adopted?"

"Fostered," Barry was quick to correct, then he realised what he had said. He let his head fall onto his chest with a groan. "Joe, I swear I was going to tell you..."

To his immense surprise, Joe said quietly, "Go. She's a little girl who needs her daddy. I can understand that better than most people. But," he said louder, as Barry began thanking him, "I wanna meet her. If I'm gonna have grandkids then I gotta tell them to call me Pops. None of this 'Granddad' business. I ain't that old."

"Well, that's debatable," Barry said, then zoomed up the stairs, grabbed his stuff and left before Joe could finish his yell of indignation.

***

Singh was surprised to see that Barry Allen had arrived on time - and was clean too - with a little girl trailing after him. He was keeping a tight hold on her hand, nervously shielding her from the criminals being taken to the interrogation rooms, and pulling her along when she reached out to touch a gun. "Don't touch that, it's dangerous," he scolded, but picked her up when Joe came over.

"Mary, meet your granddad, Joe West," Barry said, not noticing all female activity had ceased in the precinct in favour of watching him. Mary had buried her face in his neck, shy with new people. "Come on, he's nice, say hello."

"I ain't granddad! I'm her Pops!" Joe said again. Mary giggled at the expression on his face, looking up.

"Hello Pops," she said sweetly. "I'm Mary."

"Very nice to meet you Mary," he smiled. "I'm a detective."

"A detective! Cool!" Mary gasped, "Can I see your badge?" He let her handle his badge, laughing as well when she pinned it proudly on her chest. Barry put her down and she made her hands into a finger gun at him. "Hands up! I'm the police!"

"No way!" Barry shouted, leaping over a table. Mary yelled and began chasing him around the precinct, eventually ending in her sitting on his chest and laughing her head off. "OK, you got me officer Mary!" Barry picked her up off his chest and cuddled her. "You truly are the world's greatest police officer."

"Yay!" she cheered. 

By this point even Singh couldn't be mad at Barry. Huffie had actually fainted from cuteness overload, and Annabel was subtly strangling another woman in the corner, both fighting to get to Barry first. 

"All right," growled Singh good-naturedly. "What's all this? I didn't know it was bring your kid to work day, Allen."

"Captain Singh! I'm so sorry. I don't have a nanny or anything and Joe wanted to meet her and Mary doesn't like being separated from me, so I - "

"Fine, fine, I don't even wanna know," he muttered, "I'll allow it for now, but find a nanny. Can't have kids running around the precinct."

"Well I mean it's pretty safe - MARY!" yelled Barry in a panic, knocking a gun away from her. "For Gods sake! I never even noticed how many weapons we got lying around... And thank you Captain, I will, as soon as possible."

Mary gave Joe back his badge, and was currently looking at his desk. "Wow! She's really pretty," she said, pointing to a picture of Iris. "Who is she?"

While Joe was talking to Mary, Barry's arm was taken by Annabel, who was flirting him openly. She shot a glare at Kathy, who was also trying to steal Barry's attention. Huffie was recovered, and fighting the same officer Annabel had been fighting in the background. A few other women were fast on the approach, occasionally knocking each other over with tasers and batons. Barry, being as clueless as ever, was confused and a little bit scared. 

"Er, Annabel - "

"Annie, call me Annie," she giggled.

"OK, Annie, I need to get to work, those forensic reports won't write themselves, you know," he said, turning around, only to be faced with Kathy, who had undone her shirt and was leaning forwards. Instantly, Barry began looking at the ceiling, and Annabel whispered, "What a gentlemen!"

"Officer Kathy, I've got your report about the stabbing - I'll get it now," he said, trying to navigate his way around her without looking at her, for fear his eyes might stray to places he didn't want to see right now. He dodged around some other girl, fleeing up the stairs and into the safety of his lab. "What the hell was that about?" he muttered, putting on his goggles and getting to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Barry, he's so clueless. But he's only got eyes for a certain doctor....
> 
> KUDOS! PLEASE! THANKS!
> 
> The stuff about Mary creating her own gravity: I got it from artificial gravity in space, where rotation allows it to be created, basically. I only included it to keep in character, and it's what they always do anyway.


	5. Mere Fluffiness Ensues

Mary was happily playing with the officers in the precinct, learning about crime and basically making everyone smile. She missed Barry but he needed to work - she knew that. She didn't really understand the concept of work or why he needed to do it, because she was so young, but she could understand that adults had to do some weird things. Whenever he came down, she threw herself at him, often being peeled off by Joe and Iris, who she had now met. 

Then, of course, Barry and Joe were called to a crime scene.

"Don't leave me alone!" Mary cried tearfully, eyes wide and watery at the thought. She looked like her whole world was ending right there. "Barry! I don't want you to go! I'll be alone again!" This statement got a few sympathetic - and curious- glances around.

Barry looked equally as devastated. "Mary, I have to go, it's part of my work!" He said, getting down on his knees and stroking her beautiful brown hair. She hugged him hard, her black dress crumpling at the white bow. He hugged her back, squeezing gently. They were like that for a minute, before Mary disentangled herself from Barry. She was looking down, but sighed and looked up again.

"Go then," she said quietly, rubbing her arms. "Go and be a CSI. I can wait. I know you'll come back."

"OK, Mary. I'll come back as soon as possible," Barry said, looking like he might cry. He got up and began walking towards Joe and the other officers, who were waiting for him, waving one last time to Mary. 

"Bye bye Barry," she said, then went and sat in Joe's chair, sighing unhappily. Singh grumbled, pinching his nose, already hearing his husband's voice in his head, reprimanding him for not cheering a little girl up. He went over to her. "Hi Mr Sin."

"Singh," he corrected. He pulled some spare printing paper out of Joe's desk and gathered all the pens he could find. "You wanna draw together?"

***

That was how the group found them when they came back to the precinct later, watched by the female officers on duty, who were all sighing and crying at the cuteness of the scene. Some even fainted at the joyful reunion between Barry and Mary, as they cuddled each other in a display of affection and love. 

By that time, it was finishing time for Joe and Barry, so they took Mary to pick up Iris at the newspaper office (Mary was delighted at the bright colours and large easy headlines she could read) and called Cisco and Caitlin to meet them at Big Belly Burger, where they convened for tea. Joe had to leave early, called out at an unusual event (no doubt something to do with a meta), leaving the 5 of them. Iris and Cisco had to leave early as well, both of them giving the excuse of work, but secretly the two were hoping in the absence of any viewers, Caitlin and Barry might talk a bit more and even get the ball rolling between the two of them. 

Eventually, after a good long talk catching up, and discovering that Mary didn't like ketchup, and explaining for the fifth time to another waitress that no, they were not a couple with a daughter, just friends with a kid, and wondering about the looks the waitresses exchanged whenever they passed each other, they climbed into the car together, Mary in the back in her seat. Barry was still struggling to wipe the ketchup off his jumper when Caitlin put Mary in her seat, moving the belt hug a bit to make her comfortable. Mary yawned, snuggling herself into the seat. 

Caitlin and Barry rode in front, still chatting and laughing about things that were going to be forgotten by tomorrow. "Well, I mean, I think Wind Bomb is quite flattering for a name," Caitlin mused thoughtfully.

"No! No way! We are not calling Mary Wind Bomb! Maybe something like - Oh wow! She's a Powerpuff Girl!"

"Powerpuff Girl?"

"Yeah, because she can explode things with power and you know, puff is like wind! Powerpuff!"

"Isn't that copyright infringement?" laughed Caitlin. 

Barry pressed his foot down on the accelerator, ready to reply - 

BEEEEEEP! BEEEEEP! A car came flying out of nowhere, howling past the red light and coming straight towards them. Caitlin screamed, but Barry saw everything in slow motion, grabbing the clutch, putting it into reverse and slamming his foot down again, almost crashing into the car behind them. Barry had enough sense to hit the brakes as well.

Instantly, the two turned around to check Mary was OK, both reaching out a hand to brush a hair from her sleeping face. Their fingers touched and they smiled, relieved, at each other. A couple of car drivers had got out to see if they were OK.

"We're fine," Caitlin told a man who had come. "Thank you for checking, but we're OK."

"Your little girl too?" he asked.

"Yes, she's fine - she's asleep so she doesn't even know what happened, bless her," Caitlin said, not bothering to correct him. Barry turned around after talking to the woman behind them, who dismissed his apology for almost hitting her with 'no harm done' and 'I would have done the same'. 

"You good?" he asked, putting his hand on her shoulder. She nodded, thanking the man once again, who got back into his car and waited for the traffic light, same as the woman. "You wanna bunk at STAR tonight with us?"

"Yeah," she admitted, actually still a little shaken. Her mind couldn't stop going over the possibilities of what could've happened. "I'd like that."

***

"Yo yo..." Cisco trailed off at seeing the Cortex empty. "Uh, hello! Crime fighting squad?! TEAM FLASH! You here?!" he called, getting no reply. Iris followed him in, looking around at the empty Cortex with a smirk. "What're you smiling for?"

"Well, I checked Caitlin's on the way here -"

"Creepy dude..."

"I'm a reporter, get over it - and she wasn't in, and if there was an emergency Barry would have called us, so do you know what that means?" she said in a sing songy tone. Cisco's jaw dropped.

"No way! Caitlin would not! Maybe she just... Maybe she just..." He side-looked at Iris. "You think... For real?"

"Yep," Iris said cheerfully. "Come on, let's go and catch 'em in the act!"

"Dude, still creepy..." 

"I'm a reporter, get over it!"

However the truth was much more cuddlier than that, and consisted of more blankets and clothes and children than Iris had imagined (and Cisco had tried NOT to imagine). Iris, however, was still delighted at seeing the three all curled up together, silently fangirling, and dancing a bit. Cisco had joined in after his initial relief that they HADN'T been doing THAT.

When Caitlin and Barry woke up, they washed up quickly before going to the Cortex and switching on the crime locator. Between breakfast, Barry had managed to stop three burglaries, two stabbings and helped the fire brigade clean their station. Mary woke up soon after, tearing into the Cortex with her hair all cutely upturned and messy, wailing and clutching onto Barry and Caitlin, having thought that they had left her behind. 

While the two were comforting the insecure little girl, Harrison Wells walked into the lab.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The bit about Cisco and Iris... We never get enough banter between them! I think they'd be great buddies :)
> 
> I swear, if by now you don't know what I'm gonna ask... KUDOS! Just press the lil button right there, thanks.
> 
> Also thanks for the comments on the story! Happy New Year everybody!


	6. Earth-2: The Return To

His first thought, when he walked into the lab, was that a lot of things had changed. For one, Barry and Caitlin seemed to have a daughter together - no, actually, not possible. Brown hair and tan skin indicated to a different unknown parent... Perhaps she was just Barry's then. But she was wailing spectacularly and holding onto the two, while Cisco laughed in the background. It reminded him of Jesse...

For a second, his feet turned, ready to leave the heartwarming scene behind, and take his troubles with him. If it were him, he wouldn't want Jesse to be in harm's way at all. So what right did he have to come here and ask for their help? Even after he had betrayed them they still helped him. Still let him into their lives - and such fantastic lives they were! Harrison couldn't know anyone like this on another Earth - perhaps, of course, his Barry Allen, who had been a frequent in his life after the Earth-1 team had gone home, helping him adjust and managing his PR. He had done it purely out of the good of his heart, the sweet boy. He wondered if all the Barry Allens were just kind by default, and if he would ever meet an evil Barry Allen. And even then, what would that Barry Allen be like? Would he just mess up forensic reports or something for his evilness?

Harrison almost let out a wild laugh - he was letting his imagination run wild again - he had been doing that a lot recently. He stepped into the light, instantly noticed by Caitlin, whose smile faded slightly as she stood straight, shaking Barry by the shoulder. Barry and Cisco looked up too, forgetting the small girl in their midst for a moment. 

"Harry?" Barry said disbelievingly. "What are you doing here?"

"Not that - not that we don't want you but..." Cisco said.

"I know. I said I wouldn't come back unless it was an absolute emergency," Harrison said. "And I'm really, really sorry."

***

Joe groaned as he woke up, hearing the too-familiar beep of a hospital monitor and a warm hand clasped over his. "Baby..."

"Daddy!" Iris exclaimed. "Are you OK? What am I talking about of course you're not! What happened? How the hell did you get like this?! No, don't move, I'll call the nurse! NURSE!" she yelled, then turned back to her bed-ridden father. 

"You really are a reporter huh? Asking all these questions," mumbled Joe, scanning the room for any more friendly faces. 

"Nobody's here, dad. I called Barry but he's not picking up... I think the others are with him as well, because they aren't picking up either," Iris explained. Joe felt a little hurt, but then remembered that Barry was probably off doing his goddamned job for him. And that he had a little girl now... That always took priority. One look at Iris almost reduced him to tears. He'd almost died again.... "Daddy! Are you OK?!"

"I'm sorry honey," he sobbed. "Makin' you do this every time I can't save my own ass. I get hurt more than Barry nowadays."

"First of all, we both know that's not true, because Barry is an idiot who wears his heart on his sleeve," Iris said, matter-of-factly, "And second, this isn't your fault. You're a cop. You're going to get hurt, and feel pain. But we'll always be here with you... even if the little man can't stop beating up some back-alley crook for two seconds to come see you."

Joe let out a small laugh as the nurse came in, her face breaking into a smile. "Well! I heard someone call, ma'am. Something need attention?"

"Yeah. I feel a little strange," groaned Joe. The nurse looked sympathetic. 

"That's probably your injuries, sir. You got some pretty nasty bite marks there, as well as some bruises. By the time we got you here, blood loss was immense..." She shook her head, not noticing the looks Iris and Joe exchanged. "I'll change your IV line, grab you some morphine and get you a nice cookie to keep your sugar up, hmmm?" she said, smiling at Joe.

"That won't be necessary," another person said, revealed to be Caitlin. "Hi, I'm Dr Caitlin Snow. I specialise with cops. You might have heard of Barry Allen?"

"Oh yeah! The baby coma kid!" the nurse exclaimed. "You're his doctor?"

"Yes, and this is his dad. Please get the morphine while I assess him, thank you," she requested. The nurse left, and Iris turned to Caitlin. 

"Baby coma kid?" She said sceptically.

"He was in a coma for nine months, Iris," smiled Caitlin. "Then he woke up, a miracle in science. Of course the hospitals know him. All I have to do is walk into a medical centre and people know me."

"Look at you all famous," Joe groaned. Caitlin went back to her usual serious self, looking over the notes on the clipboard she had. 

"Your vitals are OK, and your bite marks are healing well - the stitches are holding it together. But these markings..." she traced the picture with her hand. "I've never seen anything like this before..."

"It weren't no animal in that house," Joe said. "Last thing I remember was some guy, blonde hair, blue eyes... Then I was out."

"Meta?" Iris said in a low voice. 

"Actually, yes," Caitlin said. "Apparently, according to Harrison Wells, we have vampires running around Central city."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I'm really sorry I've been inactive but it was January exams and I'm officially dead :/ but I'm back!


	7. Earth 2: The Return To (Part 2)

_Earlier that day..._

"S-Sorry for what, exactly?" Barry asked, but the feeling of dread was already growing. The look on Harry's face was not one to be pleased about, and while he genuinely liked Harry he had never wanted him to come back like this. Cisco was feeling the same thing, and Caitlin. But Mary looked confused between them, retreating behind Barry a little.

Harry seemed to remember that she was there, because he broke out of his serious mode for a moment and smiled at her. "Hi there sweetie. I'm Harry - "

"AHHHHHHHHH!" she screamed suddenly, flying up at him (quite literally) and taking him by the jacket, shaking him hard. Harry, caught off, partly by shock and partly by interest, fell back to the floor, accidentally dragging a lamp with him. She pushed her hands on his jacket, pressing hard. Caitlin ran over and pulled her off, screaming when she saw his jacket begin to shake and let out a soft rumble.

"Get it off, get it off!" yelled Cisco, but Harry was already pulling it off his arms, and the next second it was gone, a red blur passing him by. He stood back up, only to almost fall over again when a loud explosion was heard from outside. Barry came hurling back in, slightly dazed and burnt from the explosion. He staggered a little, causing Cisco to grab him a chair sit down. "Dude, you OK?"

"Er - yeah, I'm fine," he said a little loudly. "I may be a little deaf though."

"Damn it," Caitlin muttered, putting Mary down, who had been screaming like a little she-devil and struggling in her arms, desparate to fight Harry. Now she ran over to Barry with Caitlin, staring darkly at the man who she thought had killed Barry's mother. Caitlin was tilting Barry's head back, putting a small flashlight near his ear and peering down it. "You seem to have some minor bleeding, that's bad.... But I think your healing will sort it out in no time... Still, I'll run some tests," she said, guiding Barry to the med bay and lying him down, leaving Cisco, Mary and Harry.

"Why did Barry save him?" asked Mary, pointing - very rudely - at Harry.

"OK, Mary, I know what it looks like, but that's not Harrison Wells. This is Harry Wells, and he's from another universe, and he's our friend. He helped us stop Zoom." He put particular emphasis on friend and Zoom, to make her see the point. But still she glared suspiciously at him, his inquisitive glare meeting her hostile one.

"Interesting. Flying and exploding meta... We don't have double abilities on my earth - but then again, we've never encountered child metas either... Besides Jesse, and as she keeps telling me, she is not a child anymore..." he trailed off at that thought. "But I suppose if we do have child metas then it will be revealed on my earth very soon after yours. Do you have her stats?"

"Yo, dude, slow down. She nearly killed you," Cisco said, expression sending a clear message that Harry should try and do something else before she tried again, with no Barry to save him this time. 

"I'm afraid I don't have time for this," he answered, turning away from her, and Mary just huffed and sat in a spin chair. "Barry, Cisco - I need your help. Metas - and people alike - are disappearing at an enormous rate all over my Central City, and there's not a damn thing we can do about it..."

"Have you told Jesse?"

"That's the thing," Harry said, trying not to let his voice crack. "She was already gone when I went to warn her."

***

"DOWN! GET DOWN!" Joe screamed, dragging the lead officer away as he lay groaning. He got him behind some convenient cover and poked his head over to assess the situation. The officers were obeying, staying low and waiting for orders. He grabbed his walkie-talkie, lifting it to his mouth. "This is Detective Joe West, now leading, with one injured. Anyone else got injured?"

"Officer Huffie, reporting here, two injured. I'm close to the exit and have already called an ambulance, sir."

"Good woman, Huffie. Kathy, you can hear me?" 

"Sir yes sir. I've got eyes on the attacker. Permission to shoot?"

"Listen. These guys are fast. So on my count, fire at will. Huffie, you shoot in front. Kathy, shoot at the attacker. Leo, get your left, and Oscar take your right. Keep firing and reloading. You see movement, fire. Stay under cover. I've called a second ambulance, leave the injured someone safe so we don't get a hostage situation. Ready? Three, two ONE!" Joe began shooting, hearing other officers firing after him. There was a scream - whether it was an attacker or an officer, Joe didn't know - and someone fell. Joe began moving towards the exit, the other officers copying his actions.

"Oh, I don't think so," hissed a man with blonde hair and blue eyes, and then seconds later, everything went black.

***

_now, in the hospital_

"Vampires? What, you telling me Twilight is happening here or something?" Joe said disbelievingly. Caitlin nodded, then shook her head.

"Not Twilight, exactly. It seems these so called vampires are actually just bloodsuckers - "

"Hence the name, vampires," Iris said understandingly.

"They feed off human blood, mostly. There's a problem with it in Earth-Two as well, and Harry - yes, he's back - has actually been protecting them for scientific study. One of them used to be his one of his employees, who went to him for help after the particle accelerator explosion. He began building a safe haven for them..."

"But Zoom..." sighed Joe, putting a hand to his forehead. "Of course."

"Yes. A breach opened in the safe zone and some crossed through, apparently intent on finding him and killing him for abandoning Central City and them. They felt betrayed. But, of course, Wells went back and apologized, explained some of what had happened and the vampires forgave him."

"But not the ones in Central City," Iris said.

"No. They're still looking for him, and it seems they're getting reckless with feeding. Mostly they were just taking blood from the blood banks but they are getting angrier by the day, and are risking exposure to everyone. And they're posing a massive threat. It's not just that... Jesse left a recording behind for Harry, telling him that she had crossed back into our world and was intending to find the metas. At first Harry wasn't too worried, thinking we'd catch wind of what she was doing and send her back. But when no call came..."

"He realised Jesse had been taken," groaned Iris. "Right, that's our lives now. A world-jumping vampire troop out to kill a man who technically isn't even alive anymore, and of course a baby coma kid and a psychic have to stop them while saving the dead man's daughter. Sounds like a bad fanfiction."

Caitlin looked confused. "What's a fanfiction?"

***

Harrison Wells stepped into the safe zone, Barry and Cisco trailing behind him, taking their idiotic pictures and laughing like the big nerds they were. The vampires looked nervous at the newcomers, some even running away. But thankfully, Emmy, his employee, came up to him. "Dr Wells?"

"Emmy, assorted others," he said, addressing the group. "I'd like to introduce you to Barry Allen, the Flash, and Cisco Ramon, otherwise known as Vibe. They are the heroes I was talking about, who will help us find our rogues and my daughter."

"And me too!" exclaimed Mary, flying overhead in her cute pink dress and waving to the people below.

"Mary! No you are not!" said Barry running around below her, not exactly looking where he was going and crashing into a wall. Cisco yelled, using his vibe powers to get Flash away from the wall. 

"Woah, watch out," he yelled, running to the Flash, and tripping over. Harry groaned. This was going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! I'm still here. And my story too. Leave kudos please!


	8. Back to Earth-1

A small group huddled together, dressed in rags, faces dirty, hands unclean - whether unnoticed or ignored, none of them really knew. They were grouped together, trying to maintain some warmth from their unkempt clothes, all the while missing one of their number. 

When they had first formed, a rag tag group, trying to find their way in life, they had decided to stick together. The world could be a dangerous place, as they had realised when they had first developed their powers. Rejected by their parents and feared by society, the children could only count on each other, and the kindness of unknowing strangers who gave them a few pennies to keep them going. 

They promised to find others as well. It was not nice to be alone, the children agreed, wiping their noses with their fingers and trying to stay out of sight. So when they had found the small girl, with brown curls and tan skin, they followed her, to see if she was... one of them. Special, like them. And she was - but she was soon whisked away by a man whose figure had been too far away to discern.

Although the children only knew her by sight, they felt her loss greatly. She was one of the destructive ones - one who was most likely to be rejected for her powers. And she was gone... Or so they thought, until one of them had spotted her looking clean, happy and with two beautiful parents. A young lady with red hair and soft eyes, and a young man with brown hair and a kind smile. She had been curled up in the back of the car, no doubt warm and sleepy.

They almost cried - not at her happiness, but at the thought of warmth and love. A few had tried to tail the car back to their home, see where she was - but it was gone before their little legs could begin to run. 

Now they could only wait, and hope that she'd reappear soon...

***

"Mary that was dangerous," scolded Barry to the pouting little girl. "And you're not going to help, that's final!"

"But I wanna help! I wanna be a superhero like you, Barry!" she cried, pouting even more. "I'm big enough now!"

"No Mary! You don't understand how dangerous it is! And if someone got you - if they took you - what would they do to you - a little girl - if they took you - if - if that happened I -" Barry didn't know how to form the words.

"You'd be devastated. You'd be desperate, you'd even blame yourself," Harry said softly. 

"Yes. How did you - " Barry stopped. "Oh...."

"Harry, we gonna get her back," Cisco said, trying to clap him on the shoulder. Harry moved out of the way of his hand. 

"Then you'd better hurry up," hissed Harry, "And stop messing around like idiots!" he walked out of the room.

"Man, if he wasn't our friend..." Cisco trailed off. "No, I'd still be doing this."

"We both would be," Barry said, arms around Mary. "Mary? Please go and talk to him."

"But - " At the saddened look on Barry's face, she relented. "OK..." she flew out of the room after Harry.

"OK dude, what do we do?" Cisco said, putting on his Vibe glasses. "Man, I always feel cool wearing these."

***

Jesse Quick opened her eyes wearily, looking around her. She had never felt more drained in her life - or less quick - and given her regenerative abilities, that was saying something. Thankfully, there were no bright lights so her headache was kept to a minimum. She looked down to see the holes in her arms had already healed. Of course. Sometimes she really hated fast healing... The constant tearing of her muscles was unbearable, every single time they wanted a snack. 

"So you're awake again."

Jesse didn't even have the strength to look at him.

***

"Uh... Mr Harry?" she called, flying around the building, oblivious to the shrieks and gasps of the people who saw her. "Mr Harry?"

"Mary," hissed Harry. "Get down!" She landed obediently on the floor, and being small, took his hand as they began to walk. Harry smiled tightly at some people who were staring at Mary, pulling her along to his office. "Why are you flying around my building?!"

"Barry said I had to make you feel better because of Jesse," she said. "Can you tell me about her?"

"... No."

"Please?" she said, hopping up onto his desk and scattering several important documents. Harry suppressed an annoyed growl. "You could tell me stories!"

_"Story! Story!" young Jesse laughed, brown curls bouncing, too excited to sleep, despite the fact her hair and her teeth had been brushed and she was in her night clothes..._

Harry gripped the table, the memory coming back vividly. Jesse's wide smile, her crooked front teeth, her little nightdress with bunnies on it... He closed his eyes for a moment, taking a breath. Mary had long since vacated the table, watching Harry with wide eyes. She quickly flew to get an aspirin and some water, thinking he had a headache. Harry looked up to see her offering it to him.

"It's OK, Mary. It's nothing..." he said.

"Sure?" she asked, putting it down.

"Yes. I'm sure." Mary's brown hair sure looked like Jesse's... and the way Barry looked at her... He could directly relate to that feeling. "Now, you said you wanted a story about Jesse?"

"Yes please?" she asked hopefully, sitting on his desk again. Harry smiled, sitting again.

"I remember when she was a bit younger than you. It was Christmas and the snow was falling outside, glistening on every branch like you'd never seen before. When the sun came up - oh, you should have seen it! - it was like the trees had been set on fire and the whole area was alight with beauty..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos is requested, lovely people.
> 
> Basic plot progression here... Sorry for not updating but here you go :)


	9. Back to Earth-1 (part two)

Barry and Cisco were talking to the vampires, some more willing than others to let on about their gifts. "So... you can sense what, exactly?" Cisco asked Emmy, interested. Emmy tucked a piece of ginger hair behind her ear and smiled shyly.

"It'll sound weird but I can sense evil intent," Emmy explained. "Like, I can tell whether people have bad intentions or not. You and Barry have mostly little evil intent, though yours is lower than his..." Cisco, thinking of Eobard Thawne, the death of Barry's mother and the betrayal of the so called Harrison Wells, nodded. "Oh, so you know... Well that's OK then."

Meanwhile Barry was having a conversation with one of the other vampires, gathering intel on what the rogues - or group Knockout as they had been dubbed by Cisco - powers were. He was armed with a notebook and pen (courtesy of Iris) jotting down all the stuff being said. Dan, Emmy's brother, directed his notes. "So, our common abilities include stuff like moving at high speed, stealth, mind reading... then we have personal abilities... Mine is strategy, I can crack any code, or lead any successful mission."

"Do you know what Knockout's abilities are?" When he saw Dan hesitate, he added, "It's just so we can prepare ourselves as well as possible... and do as little injury as possible to them. We'd rather not use force. That's not our way."

"Oh, I suppose then... Well, there's the leader, James, he's got control and command - I can make strategy, but he can make people listen to him. His lackeys Maurice and Adelaide are twins, so they have twin abilities - telepathy, hypnosis, ice powers..." Barry let out a groan, "...But it's Serena and Phillip you need to watch out for. Serena has seduction powers which she will use against you, and it won't help if you have girls, she'll do anyone - and Phillip is an annoying, elitist bastard... I don't know what his powers are though, no one does, he won't tell anyone."

Barry finished up his notes and smiled. "Thanks, you have no idea how much this is going to help," he said gratefully, turning to find Cisco waiting for him. "Dude, let's grab Mary and get back to Earth-1."

"I think they're in his office. Do you wanna walk or vibe there?" asked Cisco. 

A second later, the two were being called 'lazy and complacent' by Harry, who had papers all over the floor and a furious expression on his face, while Mary giggled at the fact the two were being scolded like children. "Your powers are special! If you start using them for everyday tasks, they become something ordinary, something not worth protecting or keeping a secret! What if you do this in your earth and someone sees you?! Do you realise the backlash you could cause, the panic you would spread?!"

"Dude, sorry, but we gotta get back to earth-1 and find Jesse," Cisco said, and Harry finally sobered up. He nodded, lips pursed in a straight line. Before leaving though, he muttered to Barry.

"If you ever hurt Mary, I will come and kill you myself." Barry grinned. Mary tended to have that effect on people and he was sure that wasn't a superpower she had got from the particle accelerator explosion.

"Let's go!" yelled Cisco, vibe glasses on, and the three jumped through to their own world.

***

Jesse gritted her teeth, opening her eyes again slightly, and on seeing no one around, she opened them completely. She didn't move though, even though all her strength was back, because she was fully aware someone could be watching her and would take her blood as soon as they realised she was healthy again. Scanning the room again, and convincing herself there was actually no one there, she raised her left shoulder slightly, switching on a comms unit in her ear. The near silent beep had her sighing in relief, knowing that Barry and Cisco would be here soon enough.

***

Joe, having finally been released from hospital, was in the precinct, gathering with those who had been on the Knockout Operation as they now called it. "All right team, I have been informed by a source that these people are metahumans - "

"Who's the source?" interrupted Albert.

"The Flash and his team, don't interrupt me again," warned Joe, and Albert scowled and fell silent. "You lot know twilight right? Well... this is twilight. Except much worse."

"I don't see how twilight could get any worse," Huffie muttered, earning a smile from Joe. "What do we have to go up against them?"

"Cisco and Caitlin Snow are working on some weapons to help us subdue them, but it could take a while. In the meanwhile, we've got information from our resident superhero about these metas."

"Is he going to be there and take credit for everything as usual?" Albert said snidely.

"Yes, he will be, because they have a hostage that is a fellow superhero of the Flash," Joe growled. He had always hated Albert's attitude, even before the appearance of the Flash. He was too superior to be working in a police station under him. Joe shook himself out of his thoughts and handed out printed, typed up copies of Barry's notes to everyone. "Read over these notes and practice your reflexes while we wait for tech support to be done, which should be an hour for the first prototype."

With that, the squad knew they were dismissed. Almost everyone went away, but Albert remained, still glowering. "Why on earth do you trust this Flash so much? He's playing with our lives here. I didn't see him anywhere nearby the first time we went up against these guys."

"First you complaining he takes all the credit, then you say he doesn't show up enough?" snapped Joe, temper finally breaking. "Get outta here, Focard. And don't bother showing up for the testing if you got that same attitude on you." He turned away, going over to Captain Singh, leaving a steaming Albert Focard behind.

"Joe, you seen Barry?" growled Singh. "He's late again!"

"He's at Star Labs, helping Cisco with the weapons," Joe answered truthfully.

"Kid's a CSI Joe! He should be here," but Singh let the subject drop. "Well, as long as he's not frolicking in the research labs opposite us... God knows I've caught him there too many times to count..."

Oh, Joe was so going tease Barry about that.


	10. Ready for Round Three?

They were growing.

Not in numbers, though that was happening slowly. Not in height, for they had little to eat and drink. But in powers. They were growing. 

One of their number could slip in and out of shops unseen. Another could lift any object given to him. A third had awareness of space and objects, even in pitch black night. These were just a few of their powers, waiting to be cultivated and strengthened... and misused, should anyone learn of their existence. 

So they huddled away from bright streets and people - until one day, one of their number claimed to know where their missing girl had gone. So they slipped away from the alleys, and headed to find this place called 'Star Labs'.

***

Caitlin carefully sewed up Barry's arm, lips pursed. Joe, his team, and the Flash had decided to go head on head with Group Knockout, and it had gone spectacularly wrong. Not only were they subdued within the first ten minutes, but Huffie and Oscar were back in hospital in A&E having suffered dangerous blood loss. 

She had told the idiot not to go running in there headfirst! But did he listen to her! No, never, apparently. And she would say something, and then he'd go and get himself injured or captured all over again. She stole a glance at Mary, who was hovering with Cisco's help, attempting to tune her powers to her body's size and weight. She would have to do it again when she had a growth spurt, though that wouldn't be for a long while yet... And then Barry would go and blow his salary on useless dresses that were way overpriced again, and she'd have to do all the nagging again...

Caitlin caught herself, slowing slightly in her sewing. Barry noticed, and after receiving a confirmation that she was OK, went back to watching Cisco and Mary. This wasn't long term, was it? They hadn't had the chance to discuss where Mary was going to go... She was cleared (with the help of Captain Singh of course) to stay with Barry for the moment, but they had never discussed this long term. A lab was not a good place for a girl to grow up, despite Caitlin being a scientist herself. Mary needed to be surrounded by other people, other children... otherwise her social and cognitive skills would be severely limited... 

She stole a glance at Barry, wishing she could tell what he was thinking as he watched Mary from afar. Did he expect Caitlin to raise Mary with him? She had been quite involved after all. But she wasn't going to marry Barry, she hadn't even kissed him yet! Well, except that imposter Barry, but that didn't really count - 

Wait! Why was she thinking like this?! She pulled away from the stitches, gave Barry a look and began packing her things away as Barry thanked her and went to Cisco, who was smirking as he held Mary's hands.

"Dude, you're so dead," chuckled Cisco, only laughing more when Barry looked honest-to-God confused. "Look at Caitlin, man. She mad."

"No she's..." he trailed off at seeing Caitlin's thin lips, straightened back and mechanical movements. "Oh god. I'd rather have another round with Knockout."

Cisco burst out laughing, but was quickly hushed by Mary. "Don't laugh! Be quiet, or she'll get angrier. Also, you should try and talk to her, Uncle Cisco."

"What, why me?!" cried Cisco.

"I'm a girl; trust me on this. Come on, Barry, I'll show you my room!" she declared, dragging Barry out by the hand, actually running out, not flying, leaving Cisco behind with a steaming Caitlin.

***

Joe and the team were testing out the cold and orientate weapons in the precinct. He staggered a bit as the cold gun went off, hitting the anti-cold shield that Cisco had made in another time for the precinct. "Yep - this works all right. Gotta lotta juice in it as well."

"Ack! I can't hear anything!" exclaimed Kathy, while Liam ran in circles around her, saying 'stay calm!' which, obviously, fell on deaf ears. "Oh, OK, it's back... So about 10 seconds for that one... For the telepathy guys?"

"Ever heard of 'can't hear yourself think?' Kathy? I think same thing applies," Mason said, standing up with the power absorbent body pads - and promptly falling over again. "Nope."

"These auto heat pads are all right," said Leo, sweating profusely, "Though Ramone could turn the heat down."

Joe pressed his palm against his head, not sure whether to laugh or cry at his team. Iris, who had wandered into the precinct, made the choice for him, laughing her head off at the disorientated, sweating, struggling to move team. "Oh this will make a great news story," she snickered, snapping a picture on her phone.

"Oh come on," Joe said, grinning at her.

"I can see the headline now - this is why we need the Flash," she made a grand gesture, then went back into peals of laughter, infecting a few others around her, and making the Operation Knockout squad look very sheepish. Captain Singh had a half-scowl on as he made his way over to them, grumbling something that sounded a lot like 'frolicking CSIs' and 'always late'. 

"Are we ready to go?" asked Singh. "I've called Ramone down here to make adjustments, but your team needs to," He gave them a once-over, "Collect themselves, then start a search for these metas."

Joe was about to reply when a beeping signal went off from his phone. He quickly pulled it out. His eyes widened on seeing who it was. Iris got her phone out as well, seeing the same signal on hers.

"Jesse!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plot thickens! Not much to say here, but Snowbarry arc will be gaining momentum after Knockout story arc ends (which should be the next chapter). Then it should be missing/lost children arc. 
> 
> So.. 1 chapter for Knockout, 2 for Snowbarry, 5 chapters for missing/lost kids, 3 for another arc (no spoiler for u), 2 for Snowbarry again, and maybe an epilogue, but nothing's decided.
> 
> HINT: notice how Snowbarry always happens after a crisis? 
> 
> As usual, kudos kudos kudos!


	11. The Final Confrontation

"Jesse?!" Iris said, alarmed, looking from her own phone to her father's. "But isn't she captured?"

"Yes she is! She must have turned on her distress signal - "

"Are you talking about Jesse Quick?" asked Captain Singh, looking between father and daughter. 

"Yes boss, she and the Flash trust me so they have distress signals linking directly to my phone... ask Cisco about the tech, I don't know a damn thing about it - "

WOOSH! Papers went flying everywhere, accompanied by Albert's angry yell, as the Flash zoomed directly into the station. "Jesse's signal has been turned on!" he cried, only just remembering to vibrate his vocal chords. "We need to leave, now!" 

"We're not ready!" Kathy shouted at him, helping up Mason and Leo. "We've barely tested our new weapons - Cisco needs to make the repairs - "

"Then I'll meet you there - "

"Absolutely not, kid!" Captain Singh yelled. "For once in your life, be still and listen! Jumping in head first didn't work the first or second times, and I know she's your friend," he held up a hand as the Flash looked to protest, "But we have to think."

"She could die, or other people could die, if we just think!" yelled Barry. Normally, he wouldn't have even dared to question Singh, but with the suit on, and Jesse's life in danger, he felt passionate and brave.

"We're police officers, Flash. We do everything we can. We can't save everyone." Joe gripped his arm as Singh spoke, knowing that Barry would probably rush off anyway. "And I know you're not the police, but you work with us on weird cases, and that makes you as good as."

A moment of silence fell between the three as Barry struggled to find words. He pushed his fist into his forehead, bit his lip, and nodded. Singh clapped his hand onto Barry's arm, then walked off, yelling for blueprints and the strategists to come down.

Meanwhile, Iris stuffed her phone into her pocket as Cisco grappled with the heat pads, turning towards him to help him.

***

The day was particularly cold, Jesse noticed. Or was that because she didn't have enough blood to produce heat? She decided to settle for cold day, preferring not to think about her current situation. She knew she was getting out soon - if the two attempts Barry and the police had made were anything to go by - but it was hard to hold onto the image of a blur passing right by her eyes, a crackle of electricity... and for her, hope. 

She wanted her dad, so badly, to come through for her... to burst into the building, gun down everyone and pick her up, cradle her in his arms, like he used to...

_"Jesse, go to sleep, Jesse," Harry sang, cradling her in his arms. Jesse sniffled angrily, burying her face farther into his chest, wishing to feel better._

_"Daddy? My throat feels icky," she whined, struggling to gulp past the itchy, stick lump in her throat. "Can you make it better? Make it better."_

_"I can't make it better, Jesse, I'm sorry..."_

Tears sprung to her eyes.

_"But please know, that no matter how much it hurts, or seems bad for you..."_

She couldn't move her arms, and her legs were badly cramped from underuse.

_"I will always be there, and if I can't come..."_

She felt herself being lifted, and she didn't have the strength to struggle anymore. A warm chest, a fast heartbeat penetrated her mind and body.

_"I will send earth's best heroes to save you."_

***

"OK, Kathy, Liam, you entering from the side building, using the taser guns and heat pads with the twins. Mason, Leo, go around the front, you should find James at the front, gun him down! I'll deal with Serena and Ba - Flash, you deal with Phillip, the unknown factor." 

"And I'm doing the once over on the building, with the devices," he confirmed, getting a nod from Kathy.

"We'll activate at will, OK? So get Jesse and mow outta there. We don't want the power dampeners to fall on you," Kathy said, helping Liam with his comms unit, provided by Cisco. "Give us an update every few minutes, and we'll yell if we go down."

"Is everyone wearing their Kevlar?" Joe checked. "See, not say." They lifted up their shirts to reveal Kevlar. "Good, put the jackets on now. We're sacrificing speed for our personal safety, but it's the best we can do. We have to strike now, before they realise what Jesse is doing."

They pulled on the blue leather police jackets, which were basically normal jackets with 'POLICE' scrawled onto the back, turning up the collars. "Flash, when you're ready..." Joe said quietly. "Run, Flash, run."

Barry took a deep breath in, and let his feet take him away.

5 minutes later, there was absolute chaos. Liam was grappling on the floor with Adelaide, covered by Leo, who was blocking Maurice's advances with the cold shield and heat pads; Joe was being cornered by Serena, attempting to taser her and Kathy was full on shooting at James, eyes trained on him, while Mason struggled to reload.

"Can you hurry up?! Why you so slow?!" screamed Kathy, pulling her second handgun out fast, continuing to shoot without hesitation.

"It's called reloading, girl, you ever heard of it?!" Mason screamed back, finally pulling up his gun and shooting directly at James, who slowed down with a hiss of pain, giving Leo enough time to throw a power dampener at him, but leaving Liam free, who was promptly attacked by Maurice; Adelaide held him down and bit hard on his arm, getting Barry's attention, who passed a high speed punch at her, knocking the twins off their feet.

Joe had subdued Serena, who was hissing and spitting. "Why didn't it work on you? Are you a meta too?" she screamed at him. He shook his head.

"Only power I have is love," he said, thinking of Cecile. Serena scoffed, earning her a power dampener thrown at her head.

Phillip slammed Barry back into the wall, who struggled for a moment, then kicked him off. "Damn it!" he choked. "I'm fine, Cisco, what do I do?"

"I'M TURNING ON THE DAMPENERS!" hollered Kathy, and before anyone could stop her, she had slammed her finger down on the button. 

"Punch him fast, Barry!" Caitlin yelled through his ear, and without thinking, he turned on his heel, socking him right in the face, knocking him out cold.

"Good old sucker punch, huh, Barry?" laughed Cisco, while Barry scratched the back of head, staring at the inanimate body.

"You're not half bad without your powers, Flash," Kathy grinned, hauling the body away. 

Now, Barry turned his attention to the figure lying huddled in the corner of the room. He walked over, slowly, and gently picked Jesse up. He placed her mask over her eyes, then walked out to victory with the police, feeling that for once, everything was perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, half term is almost over, so no updates, I'm afraid, beyond this one. I'll be back at Christmas holidays though, to carry this story on. Seems fitting it's a SNOWbarry chapter next then, huh? Huh? 
> 
> ... Sorry. Kudos please!


	12. The Root of the Problem

Mary, on hearing the laughter from the Cortex, poked her head around the entrance. "Can I come in now? Is the fighting over?" she whined.

"Yes, you can come in," Caitlin said, picking her up and bringing her next to Cisco. "What are we going to do with you? We can't keep you in the Cortex all the time..."

"We could send her to school?" suggested Cisco. Caitlin tilted her head, thinking.

"Mary, did you go to preschool?" she asked. Mary copied her, neither of them noticing the grin that Cisco had on.

"I know I was playing with lots of other kids," she said slowly. "And there was lots of toys, and stuff."

"That's probably preschool -" Cisco started.

"That's when I had parents..." Mary murmured. Caitlin crouched down in front of Mary. 

"Don't be silly. You have parents now," she said firmly. "You have a family now... Me, and Cisco, and," She blushed to think of it, "Barry. We're your family. Whoever left you behind is very unlucky, because they missed out on having a great little girl."

"So... does that make Barry my daddy, and you're my mummy?" asked Mary quietly, looking at the floor. Caitlin's throat seized up. Raising a child with Barry? Well, Mary had called Joe her Pops, so Barry was certainly her dad in her eyes. But her, as a mum? She thought of her own mother, somewhere far away (thankfully) in her own office, never sparing a glance for Caitlin. Could she be a mother, when she never had any affection herself?

"Hey look, Mary," Cisco said when Caitlin didn't seem to reply. "Barry must have found you two weeks ago now. And we don't have any adoption or fostering papers for you yet." He paused as he tried to find the words that would hurt least. "Mary, it's... it's not practical for us - and of you, to call Barry and Caitlin your parents yet. Because the law doesn't agree."

"Oh. So they'd get jail if I did call them that?" Mary said sadly, but her eyes were still full of hope.

"Y-yes," Caitlin interrupted, "Exactly that. We - we can't do this yet..." she got up and walked out, frowning. Cisco bolted after her, then doubled back.

"Why - why don't you watch your dad for us, Mary?" he asked, and his distraction was successful as Mary pounced onto the computers. He jogged after Caitlin, who was sitting in the women's overnight room which used to be for female employees who worked late. "Cait..."

"Cisco, I don't know how to be a mother!" she hissed. "I'm not even in a relationship with Barry yet, and already we're raising a child together?!"

"Do you remember what I told you the other day?" Cisco asked, "When Mary left, and you and I were alone?"

_A couple of days earlier_

_"I'm a girl; trust me on this. Come on, Barry, I'll show you my room!" she declared, dragging Barry out by the hand, actually running out, not flying, leaving Cisco behind with a steaming Caitlin._

_There was a moment's silence where Cisco failed to find words, only staring at Caitlin until she turned to face him. "What? What is it?"_

_"Um... you're mad at Barry."_

_"Very astute, Cisco. Though that man hasn't seemed to notice, being denser than Osmium, apparently..." She threw her sewing kit into a box, slamming it shut._

_"Caitlin, don't be mad at him. He's an idiot who wears his heart on his sleeve, and he does go diving in headfirst into situations, I'll admit that, but he always comes out safe -"_

_"Because we're there to guide him, that's why!"_

_"True," conceded Cisco, "But he's so passionate about everything. When he's angry, he's angry for the right reasons. When he's sad, he lets his emotions pour out of him. And when he loves..."_

_The two glanced at the entrance where Mary's shrieks of laughter could be heard._

_"He loves with all his heart. Though he might need a nudging in the right direction," he playfully bumped his shoulder with hers, making her grin at him exasperatedly. "You guys know you love each other. Ronnie was a hard loss, I know... You lost him, found him, and lost him again..."_

_Caitlin looked away._

_"But you have to move on. Ronnie himself said Barry's a good kid, and that he doesn't want you hung up on him forever. I know it's hard, though I can't imagine what you're feeling... But let Barry in. He won't ever be a replacement for Ronnie, but he's as good - and as kind."_

_"I just..." Caitlin felt herself breaking. "I'm so tired of losing people Cisco. I lost Dr Wells, I lost Ronnie, my father, my own mother, in a sense... And Barry's a superhero... What if he never comes back one day? What will I do then? And with a child too? I don't want to be my mother!" she sobbed, and Cisco hugged her, rubbing her back, finally realising what the root of the problem was. "I can't be her, I won't be her!"_

_"You'll never be her," he said firmly. "Not while I'm around; not while Barry and Mary and Joe and Iris, and everyone else is around. I can make sure of it. I won't let it happen to you."_

Caitlin gazed at Cisco. "I don't know, Cisco... We have so much going on right now... These new metas everywhere..."

"Something will always come up, Caitlin. But you just have to work through it. We have to at least try, huh?"

"O-OK," admitted Caitlin. She listened to the sounds of a returned Barry and Mary playing in the cortex. "Come on. Let's go and be a family."

***

Iris wished that people were interested in slowburn too-perfect romances rather than whatever the hell some actor was doing (or rather, WHO he was doing) in some far off city. This is what she thought as she climbed in through Caitlin's bedroom window, waving to her neighbour, who raised an eyebrow.

After landing ungracefully onto the floor, brushing herself off and helping herself to one of Caitlin's snacks, she proceeded to snoop around the apartment, looking for said woman, who hadn't turned up for their weekly book/coffee meet, where they pretended to have normal, boring lives, just to regain some control over their too-crazy lives. 

Disappointed at finding the apartment empty, she decided to look for other things, like an indication of whether Caitlin was ever going to act on her feelings for Barry. She already knew about Barry's life, if his not-encrypted video diary, which she had actually accidentally stumbled upon, told her anything. Of course, he was angry when he caught her watching it, but she had responded with kindness and advice, and then, of course, he had to run off to Earth-2, so the incident was either forgotten or forgiven or both, which was fine by her.

She had just finished her snack (who knew Caitlin was so good at making sandwiches?) when suddenly, she was grabbed from behind and dragged out of the apartment, screams muffled by the hand over her mouth.

***

"Stuck, you're stuck!" Mary shrieked, jumping onto Barry, who laughed and obligingly spread himself in a star shape, waiting to be unstuck. She grinned and ran off, little cape flapping behind her, to find Caitlin and tag her as well. Cisco, meanwhile, had slid right through the space in Barry's legs and the two ran off together to find the women of their group.

"Damn, Mary has Caitlin cornered!" hissed Barry to Cisco, who peered around the corner with a frown. The small girl was manning the entrance behind Caitlin, unaware of the two men in the other entrance. Barry held his breath as Cisco broke past him and snuck towards Caitlin. He quietly ducked down and shimmied through, leaving Caitlin free to run towards Barry with a silent laugh, as he smiled at her, grabbing her waist to propel her around the corner and onto the wall.

Caitlin, after a minute, became aware of how their bodies were pressed together, Barry's hands on her waist as he pressed her gently in place, while he looked over her shoulder to see if Cisco was done shimmying to the entrance or not.

(In truth, Cisco was deliberately taking forever so the two could have a minute. But they didn't need to know that.)

She couldn't help notice his hands were warm, probably from running, and the way he was holding her was delicate, and he had even lifted his pinky finger so he wasn't touching her skin where her jumper had ridden up a little. She smiled at that, and Barry looked at her. "What? What did I do?" he whispered, their faces close together, noses almost touching. She shook her head silently, resting a hand on top of Barry's as they peeked around the corner to see if Cisco was done.

(He took their smiles as a sign that the moment was over, and shimmied faster.)

Suddenly, there was a klaxon, and the lights flashed red momentarily. Instantly, Mary looked terrified, whipping around to see the three adults, flying straight into Barry's arms, snuggling herself into him as he let go of Caitlin and whooshed away to the Cortex. Caitlin missed the warmth, suddenly feeling undeniably cold. She pressed her hands against her arms as Cisco scrambled up next to her. "What is it?"

"I don't know. They've just gone, hurry!" she appealed to him, running off in her heels as Cisco scrambled after her. A second later, they were standing in the cortex, looking at Barry's back. Instantly, Caitlin stopped. "What? What is it?!"

"Iris has been taken..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Sorry it took forever, but something went wrong with the AO3 automatic HTML and I had to refill it myself. Being someone who knows absolute zero about binary or whatever, I basically had to take an online course... so that was fun (!) Anyway, here it is, snowbarry chapter. 
> 
> Oh, and Osmium is the densest naturally occurring element, basically Barry is dumb af. Oh well, see y'all in February, when I'm posting next!


	13. The Sandwich Crisis

“Iris has been taken... by the police for breaking into your apartment, Caitlin!” Barry said disbelievingly. “What the hell?”

“Oh God,” Caitlin said, suddenly remembering, “We have a book meet, I totally forgot because I was playing with you guys.”

“So, instead of raising the alarm, or even coming here, she breaks into your apartment, and, according to this, eats your sandwiches?” Cisco said incredulously, turning to face an abruptly steaming Caitlin.

“I cannot believe her! I told her to keep her hands off of my sandwiches!” Caitlin shouted, storming out of the cortex, presumably to find and convict Iris of eating her sandwiches. The two men, and Mary, were left in the lab, wide-eyed, wondering how many times Iris had eaten those sandwiches for Caitlin to get this mad.

“...What just happened?”

“No clue, man, don’t ask me. I’m just the tech guy.”

*

Joe... was not having a good day.

First off, he had to deal with some punks causing trouble at CC Jitters. Then he had to go across town to arrest a woman using racial slurs in Big Belly Burger (and she had a few choice words on seeing Joe turning up). And that stupid kid Focard just had to complain to everyone about the Flash. Now he had a ringing in his ears of Focard’s whiny voice.  
And to top it all off, he had just seen Iris – his baby – be arrested, with a furious Caitlin standing by, tapping her foot angrily as Iris protested. “One sandwich! It was one sandwich, Caitlin!”

“I don’t care! I have told you, don’t eat my sandwiches! Those are for me, and Barry on some occasions!”

Joe could not believe what he was hearing.

“Ma’am, are you actually going press charges for breaking and entering?” Officer Mason asked, Leo hovering beside him, checking Iris’s hands weren’t straying to any loose sandwiches.

“What...? No! No! I don’t care about that! Just arrest her for eating my sandwiches!”

“Sandwich! Sandwich! Singular!”

“Er, ma’am, the most we can do is charge her for the expense of your sandwich,” Leo interjected.

“Fine!” hissed Caitlin. “What do you need to know?” Leo pulled out a notebook.

“Please state the price of what was taken.”

“Emotionally? A million dollars!” Caitlin exclaimed dramatically. Joe raised an eyebrow. 

“Must’ve been a hella good sandwich,” He commented, coming over. Caitlin calmed down on seeing him.

“Joe, tell your daughter to stop eating my sandwiches!”

“Sandwich! I ate one!”

“I don’t care!”

“OK, look,” Joe said, grateful that his honed professionalism was keeping him from dying of laughter, “How about Iris and you go to that nice sandwich place on 53rd, Iris will give you her sandwich card-”

“Dad!”

“-And you can buy any sandwiches that Iris has eaten, huh?”

“Dad, I’ve eaten, like, 300 of her sandwiches!”

“Aha! So you do admit it’s the plural!”

“Not this time!”

“Just give her the sandwich card, Iris,” Joe said in a tone of finality. Iris groaned, and the officers stepped back to give the two women space as they walked off to the sandwich shop together. “And I thought this day couldn’t look up,” he said, finally laughing as they left the precinct. Leo and Mason shook their heads.

“Do we – we actually have to file this under a police report?” Leo asked. “Because I did not spend 6 years at police academy for this. Wait – did I spend 6 years at police academy for this?!”

Mason cracked up too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I'm back as promised! This chapter was meant to be fluffy, but it turned into pure sandwich hilarity. Maybe the next one will be better...  
> Sorry for the filler-ish content BTW. The next will have plot progression!
> 
> As always, kudos!


	14. Kindergarten Chaos

Barry pulled Mary through to the reception of kindergarten, scowling at the screaming little girl. “Come ON, Mary, it can’t be that bad!” he shouted, trying to pull her in, where she had stuck herself to the door. 

“Noooo! I don’t wanna go!” Mary wailed. The receptionist raised an eyebrow, looking amused. She had seen this scene too many times before. Although... that man looked too young to be her father. Probably a brother. Her heart warmed at the thought; her own brother was never so present in her life. She waited for the man to unplaster his little girl and approach the desk with her tucked underneath his arm, wriggling still.

“Excuse me,” Barry said, feeling –and sounding- exhausted. “I’d like to enrol my daughter in kindergarten, for the coming week. I have all the necessary forms here. Is there anything else I need to do? This is my first time by the way,” he added, readjusting Mary, who was still wriggling. 

“Is... is she your daughter?”

“Yes... no... it’s complicated!” he said, yelping when Mary escaped and sent him toppling. “Oy vey...” he groaned on the floor, while the small girl screamed ‘freedom! Yeah! USA!’ and jumped around. The woman chuckled, shaking her head, waiting for him to recollect himself.

“OK, there are these you need to fill out – I also need to tell you about child safeguarding...”  
*  
Caitlin, two days later, after checking her fridge was full of sandwiches (she had counted how many she had bought to prevent wandering hands) headed over to the cortex with a complaining Iris. They spotted Cisco in the lab, rummaging through a drawer, though he looked up when there was a cough, biscuit in mouth.

“Oh, hey guys... sandwich crisis over?” he said, munching his biscuit. Caitlin rolled her eyes and Iris looked sheepish. 

“Mostly, but that doesn’t mean she’s off the hook,” answered Caitlin, shooting a half-glare at Iris, who smiled innocently, making Cisco laugh. “What’s been happening while we’ve been gone?”

“Let’s see... 3 metas with water, fire and mood influencing powers, Singh wants the Flash arrested for stealing another sandwich from him (Caitlin will relate), oh and Barry enrolled Mary in kindergarden, she starts today, actually.”

“Yes, and I’ve never been more harassed!” yelled Barry, walking in, wiping off lipstick stains and looking incredibly tired. “I have been working my ass off for the last two days trying to get Mary to agree to kindergarten, then when I turn up at work without her, all the officers are on me about reports, or to kiss me for some reason! –”

Caitlin fumed, turning as red as her hair.

“Then, Singh jumps on me about the murder on 2nd, which I had completely forgotten about. Now he’s given me by the end of the day to complete the reports. To top it all off, I get a call from kindergarten telling me Mary has been crying non-stop and now social services is investigating me for abandonment and abuse! Do I look like the kind of guy who would hurt a kid! DO I?!” Barry brandished the towel, accidentally hitting the social worker in the face, who readjusted his glasses.

“May I enquire which one of you is Mary’s mother? Perhaps you, ma’am?” he asked Iris, noticing her dark complexion and thinking there was a connection.

“Ah, no that would be me,” Caitlin replied, a little harshly, subconsciously defending her position. Iris grinned wider and exchanged a glance with Cisco. “Please, this way... I can sort everything out, my – er - partner is under stress right now...”

Barry stormed off somewhere, presumably to clean himself up, leaving Cisco and Iris to whoop and high-five, giggling at their slowburn romance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm back everyone! I have exams in May and June, so there may be no more updates until after then. This chapter is more fluffy (I hope) and the next, I hope will be even more so, because let's face it, even though sandwiches are amazing, we need some Snowbarry screen time.
> 
> For all those living in Britain: Beast from the East amirite? Anyone still snowed in? Build a snowman? Protest lazy governments about climate change? (Wow that escalated quickly)
> 
> Love you all, comment if possible, and as always: KUDOS KUDOS KUDOS!!!


	15. Something Sweet

“So Mary’s still at kindergarten?”

“Yes, she’s a little better now. She stopped crying on seeing me, and she’s got a therapist, courtesy of the school. We’ll have to attend as well; it’s family therapy.”

“Hmm... and how’s the murder on second?”

“All done, actually, the head CSI actually did some work for once in his life...” Caitlin and Barry moved around each other as they cleaned up Mary’s room, Barry with a forgotten towel over his shoulder and Caitlin with her lab coat strewn across Mary’s bed. Barry tutted at fallen toys, making Caitlin smile. He straightened up, sighing. “We ought to decorate Mary’s room,” he said after a moment. “I know we did the handpainting, and we’ve added all her clothes and toys, but it still seems...”

“Bare?” Caitlin finished, tucking away a toy rabbit into the cupboard. Barry nodded. “I agree. We should put up some furniture first of all – we can’t stuff all her toys in there forever. And she’ll need a proper, secure playspace somewhere in the labs. We don’t want her wandering around, finding criminals or...” she trailed off.

Barry shuddered. “I guess we’re going to IKEA then... But we’ll have to pick up Mary first, it’s 3:00, she finishes 3:25. I’ll get the keys.”

“I’ll get the bags,” Caitlin called, pulling on her coat, hurrying after Barry. Iris danced away in the Cortex, while Cisco dabbed, as they watched the two ‘act all cute and not even know it!’ in Iris’s words. 

*

“Hey sweetie!” exclaimed Barry.

“BARRY!” shrieked Mary, running towards him for a hug. “CAITLIN!”

“Woah, calm down, you look desparate,” chuckled Barry, even as he leant down to embrace the young girl fully, Caitlin smiling gently (and maternally) beside him. The two ignored the stares and whispers of the parents around them, who were a lot older than them, Caitlin gritting her teeth against some of the nastier comments. They walked away from the school, getting in Barry’s car, making sure Mary was securely strapped in (which was hard, because she was so excitable), and heading off to family therapy.

“- And then I played on the monkey swings, and I secretly used my powers to float while I was on them so people think I'm really good at it, and I made friends with this girl called Emily, oh, I got into trouble for talking when Mrs Gordido was, but I wanted to know my class!”

“OK honey, just make sure you listen to your teacher and do your work as well,” Barry said, eyes twinkling as he looked over at Caitlin, who laughed lightly and reached over to tickle Mary as she said ‘Yes, Barry!’ in a tone that convinced her that Mary would not.

Family therapy was much more subdued, with Mary clinging to Caitlin as Barry explained the circumstances and the therapist (“Just call me Dr. Rosie”) attempted to talk to Mary, who was shy and wary. Dr Rosie explained afterwards to Caitlin that it was quite normal for children to be clingy at first, but they had got Mary out of that environment early, so there was likely to be minimal trauma with the right amount of TLC. Looking over at Barry, who was gently restrapping Mary into the car, Caitlin had no doubt that that wouldn’t be a problem.

It became much more hectic as Mary got back to Star Labs, doing her homework (colouring and phonics and things) and generally being a whirlwind.

“Hey! Whirlwind could be her superhero name!” Cisco perked up.

“I still prefer Powerpuff Girl,” grumbled Barry.

“Copyright infringement!” came Iris and Caitlin’s combined voices as they ran around with Mary in the particle accelerator tube.

It was late at night when Caitlin and Barry finally lay down to rest. She was too tired to drive home, and Barry couldn’t exactly leave Mary alone, so they had planned on a nightcap before heading to their separate beds, but somehow, she was tangled in Barry’s arms as the man slept, not entirely sure how she had got there, not really caring, because Barry was warm and real and she was tired. 

She gazed at his sleeping face, peaceful. The worry and tension had all but gone, leaving him looking a lot younger than he seemed to think he was – seemed to think they were. Who were they, to create a superhero team, adopt children and carry the weight of the world on their shoulders? Nobody really, in the eyes of the world, and those darned parents from kindergarten. But somehow, they were somebody. They were something.

Caitlin hadn’t planned to adopt children, turn Star Labs into a home, and not-marry Barry. But somehow, there she was. It was almost more impossible than some of the metas they had faced together. She curled into Barry more fully, her not-boyfriend, feeling rather than seeing the soft glow of the nightlight from Mary’s room, her not-daughter. She fell asleep, full aware that Barry would be there all night, and would be there when she woke up in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! It's been a month already?! And I'm writing doing this instead of revising for imminent exams?! Oh well, whatever. I hope that was fluffy enough that you're still sweet (no pun intended) on this story. Will I be able to post before May? Perhaps not...
> 
> To my commentators: Thank you for your support and your time! 
> 
> I feel a sense of deja vu coming on as I say this: KUDOS KUDOS KUDOS!


	16. Superkids Found

Soft footfalls approached a looming building, disfigured by time and use, imposing because of its significance, avoided by most adults because of its dark history. Yet to tired feet, cold hands and world-weary faces, it was a sight to behold – one to praise and love. Like pilgrims at the end of their journey, the children raised their faces to the sky, where the sun was at high noon, breaking through the clouds to shine on them at last.

The eldest, barely 9, stepped forwards in front of the group. She remembered what a warm bed and good food looked like; she knew the sound of laughter and the tender caresses of a parent; she often wondered if she would feel it again. They were so close to their goal, but if these people were not like them – if they were cruel, and cold – then what would they do? How would she tell the smallest of them that she had failed and they may never have what she once had?

She did not think of this. Instead recognising an intercom, and, hoping the parents inside were as warm as the sun above, she pressed the small button down with a click.

*

“Int-com! The int-com!” Mary called, hurrying forwards towards the computers, scrambling onto a chair. Like all small children, she had been excited at the bell and loved it when it was pushed down.

“It’s in-ter-com, Mary,” Caitlin replied, appearing from the medical centre where she had been writing up her latest report for the police. 

Lately she had been employed on a casual basis by the police to help with injuries and assessments whenever they were short. Her formal job – working at Revelations Intelligence – had been under review while the company suffered losses and were doing layoffs. The gig with the police, therefore, was welcomed as a way to pay rent (although she spent more time at Star Labs than in her apartment – best not to think of that anyway). 

She walked over, looking down at the screen – and gasped. There must have been 4 or 5 dirty, tired looking children at the door – the back door no less, perhaps not wanting to draw attention to themselves. She ordered Mary to stay put, then ran as fast as she could to the door, opening it and ushering the children inside.

“Are you OK? Are any of you hurt? Are you hungry? Where are your parents?!” Caitlin fired off, brain not quite operating as her caring instincts went into overdrive. They remained silent, too silent for a group of elementary schoolers. The eldest girl stepped forwards and held out her hand. A long ice spike appeared from it. Caitlin jumped back in surprise, suddenly realising the horrible truth.

“Will you help us?” she begged more than asked. 

Caitlin didn’t need to be asked twice.

*

Joe and Barry had been hailed to come and help Caitlin. Mary, ever curious and kind, kept the children company while Caitlin attempted to sort things out. Soon though, the water turned warm and food was being made, while she and Barry ushered the children under the showers and baths and to a hastily constructed dining table (two other tables pushed together with mismatched chairs around) in a separate room while Joe heated some ready-made meals he bought in the oven.

Cleaning the children was a feat in itself. Caitlin was presently glad the boys frequently forgot they had toiletries here and kept buying more (to her previous irritation), because it meant they had enough to wash and dry the children. The eldest girl, who gave her name as Bethany, seemed to be the undisputed leader of the group as after a quick shower she managed on her own, she helped the adults with the others and calmed them down when the children got emotional. She also made sure everyone had something to eat before taking any herself. When they were gobbling their meals down, Bethany approached Barry and Caitlin. 

“Bethany, you should eat,” Barry said softly, wiping his hands down on a dishcloth before passing it to Caitlin and Joe. 

“I can’t,” she replied. “Not while the others are still waiting for me.”

The adults stopped. “Others? Others like you, you mean?”

“Yes. These you see,” she gestured behind her, “Are the older ones of our group. We left the younger ones hidden away to wait for us... or to continue on in case we never made it back.” Caitlin shuddered at the implication. Bethany turned and gauged the position of the sun from the window. “I have only a few hours left before they will try and move on. I have to hurry. I only took the back paths here, which cars cannot get down. If I leave now, I should be here and back by dawn. The little ones cannot walk through the night and they are slower you see.”

“Absolutely not,” Joe said firmly. “We can squeeze in a car anywhere if we try. Besides, which road did you leave them by?”

“The closest is Crossby Road, and that’s still far away... we stayed away from roads unless we needed money or food. It’s safer that way.”

“Then Crossby it is,” Joe replied, unrelenting. “That’ll take us half an hour by car then we can walk.”

Bethany looked surprised and thankful, too thankful for a small kindness. She stepped forwards once more, leading the way to the car park while Barry stayed behind with the children.

*

They were scared. The smaller ones, who could not form proper words, merely whimpered unhappily, hushed by their older counterparts, who were more capable of intelligent thought and words. Their eldest – their leader, had not yet returned, and the sun was beginning to sink lower and lower, perilously close to the horizon, setting all it touched on fire, obliterating it in an unwelcome blaze of light. They had already begun to collect what little they had, ready to move on, losing hope.

“Frederick! Frederick!” came a hiss. Frederick, same age as Bethany, looked up, eyes hard and suspicious. His preferred name was Fred, but the two leaders had agreed that she would call him Frederick if she came back, to avoid detection by the corrupted. The boy stood up cautiously, calling back.

“Bethany?”

“Frederick it’s me! A-P-A-J-U-S!” Frederick ran out, seeing Bethany call the final letter of the code, clean and with two adults – the soft eyed woman and an older man. “Fred! Is everyone OK?”

“Yeah, we were just ‘bout to leave,” he said, sounding relieved as he beckoned the smaller ones forwards. The two embraced, Bethany uncaring of her friend’s dirtiness. “You found them, then?”

“All thanks to you, genius,” she replied. “This is Caitlin and Joe. They’re like us – they’ll help us. Star Labs is big enough for everyone I think.”

“That’s brill,” he smiled and they hugged. Then Frederick turned back. “Like we practised! Buddy system! Stand together and hold hands – we don’t want to lose anyone!” The children scrambled into place, forming a chain as they clutched each other tightly, youngest ones in the middle, and elder ones at the front and back. Frederick went to the back and Bethany at the front. “Lead the way,” he said, and Joe and Caitlin began walking back.

The two adults noticed that Fred and Bethany seemed to have a system. They were looking out constantly on either side for attacks, drifting towards the middle before snapping back to place. Often, they would slow slightly and meet eyes before switching positions and looking around again. They ordered the younger ones around, who obeyed without question, and towards the end of their journey, all 4 of them – the two adults and children – picked the more tired ones up to give their feet a rest. It was harmonious, if a little sad they had so much responsibility. 

Finally they reached the vans, as Caitlin and Joe had anticipated a lot of kids and decided to drive separately. Bethany and Frederick separated the group into two groups of 4, so there was a comfortable amount in each van.

“Now listen up, once we get there, there will be warm showers and baths running, so strip off and leave your dirty clothes neatly on a chair. Then we can eat something while the adults sort stuff out,” Bethany told the children as Caitlin drove. “After that you need to find your elder and stay with them until we get more instructions.”

The children murmured their assent as Bethany turned back to Caitlin. “We charged one or two of the younger ones to each older one... me and Fred look after everyone.”

“You wont have to worry about that anymore, not while we're here,” Caitlin assured her softly, and if she noticed Bethany blinking quickly as she looked out into the road again, she didn’t say anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, one month again! I'm becoming a pro at this *(ignores the fact I have exams in 5 days)* Anyway, I'm sorry this chapter is a bit description heavy (and filler-ish), but I wanted to get across the message that these kids have faced hardship and how it's affected them and that Team Flash are basically awesome. 
> 
> We'll face more legalities and powers next time, and a small spoiler: Central City media will have a field day in the coming chapters about this :)
> 
> Special shoutout to eliley for commenting a lot, thank you so much! 
> 
> And before I bid all of you adieu: KUDOS!


End file.
